Narrator: About half an hour later, the priest saw the middle-aged man's neighbour walking his dog near a bridge. After exchanging the usual morning greetings and bidding farewell, he continued his journey across the 200-metre-long bridge spanning a deep gorge. The bridge was made of planks chained together, just wide enough for an adult to set his feet on it. There was a wider bridge with railings about a thousand metres away. To get to the alternative bridge, however, a traveller had to walk through a forest full of wild animals. Hence, even though the first bridge was narrow and had no railings, the residents in the vicinity had no better choice but to use it. As a result, the region had produced many professional tight-rope walkers.

The priest had no difficulty walking across the narrow bridge as he was an expert tight-rope walker. Moreover, he was skilled in Wudang kungfu. After crossing the bridge, he looked back and saw the most amazing sight in his life. The dog owner was crawling along the bridge, with one end of a leash tied around his neck while the dog behind him held the other end of the leash with its mouth. After a while, both man and dog managed to cross the bridge safely. The man untied the leash from his neck and put it back on his dog.

Priest: What's wrong with you?

Dog owner: After you left, my dog expressed its displeasure with me for colluding with my neighbour against its own interests by giving him my giant war drum. I explained that I had proved my love for it beyond all doubts by giving away my 2,000-year-old family heirloom. However, it was not satisfied with my explanation. Furthermore, it disagreed with the common phrase "A dog is a man's best friend". It wanted to change it to "A man is a dog's best friend". Both phrases make no difference to me because I consider a man and a dog as friends. Hence I acceded to its demand to let it walk me across the bridge as a proof of my love for it.

Narrator: Hearing this explanation, the priest did not know whether to laugh or cry as he could feel that the mosquito inside a bottle in his pocket was buzzing restlessly for breakfast. He did not want to dance like a crazy horse in front of the man and and the dog after the mosquito fed on his blood. Hence he bid the dog owner farewell and continued his journey to the Old Man's Mountain.